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blog.vrypan.net

I was trying to build a PRNG based on cellular automata rules. I had the illusion that a few clever ideas, and some empirical knowledge would be enough.

Nothing could be further than this, when it comes to random number generators. Smart people with deep and broad knowledge have been studying the field for centuries, you can't just show up and expect you will build something better, or even decently good, just like this.

But during the last 10 days that I've (obsessively) been on this journey I've learned so much. (ChatGPT and Claude have allowed me to learn and experiment at a pace that would be unimaginable a year ago.)

Yesterday I started reading again (last time I tried, I stopped after the second chapter or so) Wolfram's "New Kind of Science". It will take me some time, but there are so many concepts and ideas I've long been fascinated about, but never went to the depths Wolfram goes.

On the side, I'm studying a 1984 paper, on "Algebraic Properties of Cellular Automata" now. Algebras were one of my favorite topics when I was studying math, and I feel lucky to have the tools, to (try to) understand it: https://content.wolfram.com/sw-publications/2020/07/algebraic-properties-cellular-automata.pdf

(It's sad that so few people get to learn what Mathematics really are: a tool to describe and study concepts that often push the boundaries of our minds.)

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Unusual book #2. This is a really weird one.

The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex, hand-written in an unknown script referred to as Voynichese.

The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438). Stylistic analysis has indicated the manuscript may have been composed in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The origins, authorship, and purpose of the manuscript are still debated, but currently scholars lack the translation(s) and context needed to either properly entertain or eliminate any of the possibilities.

Hypotheses range from a script for a natural language or constructed language, an unreadable code, cypher, or other form of cryptography, or perhaps a hoax, reference work (i.e. folkloric index or compendium), glossolalia or work of fiction (e.g. science fantasy or mythopoeia, metafiction, speculative fiction).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

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The Codex Borgia also known as Codex Borgianus, Manuscrit de Veletri and Codex Yohualli Ehecatl, is a pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript from Central Mexico featuring calendrical and ritual content, dating from the 16th century.

It is considered to be among the most important sources for the study of Central Mexican gods, ritual, divination, calendar, religion and iconography.

It is one of only a handful of pre-Columbian Mexican codices that were not destroyed during the conquest in the 16th century.

Great gift for anyone interested in Mexican art.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Borgia

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A Commodore 64 was my Christmas present in 1985. It was my first computer, and I will never be able to express the feeling of opening the box, and connecting it to the living room TV.

Commodore 64 Ultimate is an amazing resurrection of the original C64. https://www.commodore.net/

Check out this video for a hands-on look at the hardware, the keyboard, the ports, the internals, the Ultimate 64 Elite-II it’s based on, and how it performs with real software, disks and peripherals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PnWDSQZLtY

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I was talking with a generative art collector and realized that over the past years I've built a number of things that are not easy to find, and even when found, they are not presented the way I want them to be.

Well, here is this Sunday's project: https://art.vrypan.net/

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I want you to concentrate, study the can, and the attached text, and tell me what this product is NOT.

Tomorrow we will use what we learned today, to study web3.

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Every system begins with good intentions. A hosted node here, a whitelisted relayer there. Each is harmless on its own — and together they become habit.

Gateways become platforms. Platforms become landlords. Landlords decide who may enter and what they may do.

The only defense is trustless design: systems whose correctness and fairness depend only on math and consensus, never on the goodwill of intermediaries.

Trustlessness is not a feature to add after the fact. It is the thing itself. Without it, everything else — efficiency, UX, scalability — is decoration on a fragile core.

Trustlessness is how credible neutrality is achieved. Without it, the system becomes one that depends on intermediaries.

Signed the trustless manifesto!

https://trustlessness.eth.limo/general/2025/11/11/the-trustless-manifesto.html

--@vbuterin

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First day at Optasia.com. I missed these guys (was there for 6 years, in the past), and feels healthy to work on something not crypto-related, after a long time. Will probably post much less -but may have some interesting stuff to share, especially during trips.

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I don't get Minecraft Youtube. (you probably relate if you have kids)

But then, I watch this. And I find it exciting. So who am I to judge?

How to write a Web Server in pure bash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L967hYylZuc

BTW, the whole channel is amazing.

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For some reason @wdimapp's image feed brings up casts that I've totally missed.

It could be that an image embed requires some additional effort (even if marginal) from the poster, so it's a filter by itself. Or that my brain can scan through a feed of images more efficiently than text.

But there's something there.

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This is starting to look good. Nothing really fancy, it's practically a guide on how to formalize and leverage a specific FIP-2 use case.

At the same time, the spec takes into consideration practical limitations and implementation hurdles (for example, how easy it is to implement at scale, with minimal resources).

Start a thread in discussions if you have questions, or suggestions, or any other feedback. Also, interested in applications that could leverage it, other than blog feeds.

https://github.com/vrypan/snappub

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So, I started working on the ideas described in https://blog.vrypan.net/2025/10/24/snapchain-and-static-blogs/ which lead me down a rabbit hole:

  • https://github.com/vrypan/snappub This repo has the initial spec for RSS feed to use Snapchain as their notification backend (what used to be a "RSS ping service"). This is a very efficient way to notify RSS readers that a feed has been updated.

  • https://github.com/vrypan/snappub-tools To help with testing, especially devs that know little about Farcaster and Snapchain, I started building a set of tools to help them send updates and check if a feed has been updated.

  • https://github.com/vrypan/fc-appkey Which had me face the old problem with posting to Farcaster from your own apps: appkeys (aka signers). So, I decided to fix this for everyone. fc-appkey is easy to install (just binary, brew, etc) and will show you the QR code in your terminal, and let you generate appkeys:

  • And btw, I realized that I can use a single repo for all my homebrew taps, so, I'll start migrating all of them under vrypan/homebrew-tap.

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I've been spending more time on https://reederapp.com lately. Which comes with my blog becoming the core of my online presence again. And also, bckt-generated RSS feeds getting some love.

Being able to post on Farcaster (which is easy, compared to writing a new blog post) and then selectively converting casts to blog posts with a single command, is liberating. I could automate the process, but I like the curation step -not everything I post here is worth becoming a blog post.

I also have a couple of ideas on how to piggyback on snapchain to offer ActivityPub-like or even ActivityPub-compatible functionality for static blogs.

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Hey! I’m you, three years from now. Don’t bother.

BTW, @dwr, there was a very interesting community/movement around "IndieWeb" about 8-9 years ago. I have not followed it for some time, but anyone building an open web3 should have a look at their concepts and ideas.

--@vrypan

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